Gulf Network
John Ternus, Tim Cook's successor at Apple, pulled off another ‘one more thing’ earlier this month on stage, unveiling the much-anticipated foldable smartphone. Inconspicuously named the iPhone Duo, this latest launch marks one of the most significant smartphone upgrades from Apple in a long time. Promptly, the phone became the most talked-about piece of hardware from the launch. Apple joining the foldable race is significant because it signals that this new form factor has become too mainstream to be ignored. But rather than offering a bunch of different foldable types like Huawei or Samsung, Apple has focused its energy on delivering a passport-style wide-screen form factor.
Huawei’s foldable lineup now features everything from flip and book-style designs to passport formats and even a tri-fold, with many of these concepts first introduced by Huawei. Following years of iterative refinement, Huawei now offers significant improvements in durability, camera performance, and multitasking productivity. The tri-fold Mate XT even supports a PC-like setup with an external keyboard.
In the case of Samsung, the brand now offers three different foldable form factors, including the Flip, Fold, and Fold Ultra. A short-lived Galaxy Z Trifold also saw Samsung testing the waters with its first largely experimental triple-fold smartphone. Now, with both Apple and Samsung launching wide-screen foldables, this seems to be the next step in the evolution of foldable smartphones.
Where it all began
There are some obvious advantages to the wider aspect ratio of the Galaxy Fold 8 and iPhone Duo compared with the more conventional, narrower Galaxy Fold 8 Ultra. Most importantly, you get more usable screen area for videos and most commonly used apps. While Samsung only entered the wide-screen game in the eighth iteration of its foldable series, Apple skipped the taller foldables entirely and went straight for a 4:3 aspect ratio with the iPhone Duo.
As much as the new form factor may feel avant-garde, wide-screen foldables were pioneered by Huawei years ago. Huawei introduced the Pura X in China in March 2025. The phone featured a 6.3-inch inner display with a 16:10 aspect ratio. When folded, the phone was about as big as a passport and featured a 3.5-inch outer screen for handling basic apps and notifications. Whereas Samsung’s more conventional foldable design, with its taller inner display, had a squarish aspect ratio, the wider display offered a more immersive viewing experience.
Then Huawei followed it up with the Pura X Max in April this year with a slew of meaningful upgrades. The new phone featured a larger 7.7-inch inner screen and a 5.4-inch one on the outside, comparable to the Galaxy Fold 8 and iPhone Duo.
Huawei closes the gap
One of the biggest challenges for foldable smartphones has historically been camera performance. The need to accommodate a complex hinge, dual displays, and increasingly slim designs has often forced manufacturers to make compromises compared with their conventional counterparts. Apple’s iPhone Duo, for instance, combines a 48MP main camera with a 48MP ultra-wide camera and leans heavily on computational photography and video. Samsung takes a similar approach with the Galaxy Z Fold8, prioritising portability and weight while offering a 50MP main camera and ultra-wide system. The Galaxy Z Fold8 Ultra, however, takes a more ambitious approach, pairing a 200MP main camera with a 50MP ultra-wide and a dedicated 10MP 3x optical telephoto camera.
But the Pura X Max has also improved by leaps and bounds in the camera department. Featuring a triple rear camera system with a 50MP telephoto and a main camera with a 50MP Second Generation Red Maple imaging system, the Pura X Max has the camera chops to match the standard Pura flagships. It also offers an extremely versatile system, combining long-range photography with close-up macro capabilities. What Huawei was able to do with cameras on its foldables suggests that the compromises once associated with a folding form factor are becoming increasingly difficult to justify.
Refusing to compromise
Despite its compact foldable form factor, the Pura X Max even comes with a large 5300mAh battery and supports 66W wired and 50W wireless charging. Durability has also hit new heights thanks to the new folding mechanism, the second-generation Kunlun Glass protecting the outer screen, and a triple-layer composite screen stack enhancing the inner screen’s durability.
Probably the most exciting part of the whole story is that there are rumours in the wild that the HUAWEI Pura X Max will soon get a global launch. If that turns out to be true, users everywhere will have the chance to get their hands on a wide-screen foldable with flagship-level camera performance.